International Kurdish Conference in European Parliament asks for peace in Turkey
Ararat News-Publishing (ANP) – Brussels, Fiona Lorin, Roni Alasor - 9 February 2010 – The 6th Kurdish International Conference on "EU, Turkey and the Kurds" took place in the European Parliament in Brussels on 3-4 February 2010. After 2 days discussions in the EU Parliament, the 6th Kurdish International Conference called for participation of all the parties concerned, including the Kurdistan Worker Party and its leader Abdullah Ocalan in the peaceful solution of the Kurdish question in Turkey.
This year the main topic of the Kurdish International Conference in Brussels was "Turkey and the Kurdish conflict: Political dialogue & Peace-building". The conference brought together over hundred Kurdish politicians from Turkey, members of the European Parliament and officials from the European Commission, diplomats, human rights defenders, academics, lawyers, journalists and experts on the Kurdish issue.
At the end of the two-days debates the delegates took the following resolutions:
The Conference calls for the immediate end to all military operations by Turkey within Kurdistan, Iraq. These military operations are undermining the Kurdish Regional Government and threatening regional stability; The Conference calls on Turkey to also stop all military operations within its borders;
-The Conference underlines its view that the resolution of the armed conflict between the Turkish State and the PKK can only come through political dialogue with representatives of the Kurdish people and the Turkish government;
-The government of Turkey should ensure that there is political space for dialogue between all peoples constituting the Turkish Republic on concrete, substantive issues such as constitutional reform, and the EU should assist; civil society groups specifically should be encouraged and supported to contribute to such a platform;
-The Conference urges Turkey to immediately stop using anti-terror legislation to criminalise and detain the legitimate representatives of the Kurdish people. We therefore call on the Turkish authorities to investigate and monitor prosecution of these cases and of all human rights defenders according to domestic and international law and for these cases to be dealt with expeditiously;
-The Conference notes the Turkish Government’s Kurdish Initiative but also notes that it falls short because the government has failed to fully and genuinely consult with elected representatives of the Kurds and in the wider Turkish and Kurdish community;
-All parties to commit to a peaceful Newroz where Kurds are permitted to freely celebrate, associate and express themselves without fear or favour;
-The EU and international community should seriously facilitate the points made above.
The conference took place in particularly sensitive context of the banning of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party DTP on 11 December 2009 and the following imprisonment of Kurdish mayors, politicians and human rights advocates in Turkey. It was organised by EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC) with the support of the Group of the European United Left / Nordic Green Left. Official patrons of the events are prominent world human rights fighters and intellectuals: Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, South Africa), Dr. Shirin Ebadi (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Iran), Bianca Jagger (Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador, Chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, UK), Professor Noam Chomsky (Writer, USA), Yasar Kemal (Writer, Turkey), Leyla Zana (European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, Rafto Prize Laureate, Turkey). Kariane Westrheim, chair of EUTCC, opened the conference on Wednesday. She pointed out that the aim of the conference is to promote the accession of Turkey as member of the EU, but under the conditions of respect for human rights and a peaceful democratic and long-term solution to the Kurdish question. Westrheim underlined the necessity of more active EU involvement in the conflict resolution and participation of all the parties to the table of negotiations.
Leyla Zana, the first Kurdish woman to win a seat in the Turkish Parliament in 1991 and winner of the EP Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, welcomed the participants of the conference. In her speech Zana spoke about the different meanings of the word “peace” for Kurds and Turks – while for the Kurds “peace” is the recognition of the identity, the learning of the mother language, the seeing of Kurdish characters on the birth certificate, for the Turks the “peace” means surrendering, liquidation, cleansing, loss of status and authority…Despite these two different pictures, the Kurds and the Turks should be able to live together in the same state and with the same rights, said Leyla Zana. She addressed her “cry for peace…one strong scream…a stubborn and a strong one…and full of conviction that this cry will find its owner and it will flow into peace just as the waters of Tigris and Euprates…”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel laureate and patron of the conference, could not attend the event, but send his message to all the Kurdish people. “The world is waiting for the restoration of human rights and dignity to the Kurds. The world wants to embrace a united Turkey where all are free to share their culture and language and embrace each others culture and language”, wrote Archbishop Tutu in his message and gave South Africa as positive example that a resolution to the conflicts can be found.
Lothar Bisky, Chair of the European United Left / Nordic Green Left from Germany said that his political group supports the peace and democracy in all the countries in the world. Bisky expressed his support to the Turkish membership in EU, but for one Turkey which doesn’t close political parties, doesn’t oppress languages and cultures and where the fundamental human rights are guaranteed in the Constitution.
Jean-Christophe Filori from the European Commission said that EU is very concerned about the political arrests and the ban of DTP in Turkey. According Filori, such measures are threat to the democratic opening of the country. The European Commission is against the use of violence in the political struggle, but we are ready to support any kind of democratic negotiations for peace, democracy and stability in the Kurdish region, declared Jean-Christophe Filori.
Hasan Cemal, Turkish writer and journalist, focused on the importance of the Kurdish question as "Turkey's most important problem today". Cemal made reference on the new democratic opening policy as positive sign for the first Turkish government which is trying to solve the Kurdish question. But this solution can not be reached without the participation of PKK and Ocalan as parties in the negotiations, stated also Hasan Cemal.
The Kurdish conference in the European parliament was divided into three panels. Among the speakers in the first panel on recent peace initiatives in Turkey were the American professor Michael Gunter, the journalist Hasan Cemal and Emine Ayna, parliamentarian from the Kurdish Peace and Democracy party (BDP).
During the second conference day the discussions continued with review of the EU-Turkey accession progress, human rights and democratization and the possible roadmap for the Kurdish resolution with the interventions of the journalist Oral Calislar, prof. Dogu Ergil from the Ankara University in Turkey and Kurdish and European politicians.
Although they were included in the official programme, Ahmet Turk, former Co-Chair of Democratic Society Party (DTP), Turkey, and Osman Baydemir, Mayor of Diyarbakir, Turkey, could not attend the event. Turkey has opened court cases against both of them after the closure of pro-Kurdish party DTP in Turkey.
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